The present invention relates generally to sockets for chip modules and, more particularly, to vertically-stackable sockets.
In electronic devices, it is often desirable to permit the upgrading, addition, or replacement of integrated circuits and/or circuit modules. For example, in cellular communication devices, the technology employed in the mobile communication network is constantly evolving. In order to upgrade a cellular communication device, the user may be required to replace an RF module and/or baseband processing module. It would be highly desirable to provide a means for users to upgrade their mobile phones or other cellular communication devices as new technologies are deployed by simply replacing chip modules
Also, as the size of cellular communication devices become increasingly smaller, it is desirable to reduce the space requirements for circuit components in a mobile communication device. One way to reduce space requirements is to reduce the number and/or size of components. However, the trend is toward complex circuits that integrate functions of multiple devices. In general, increasing the complexity or functionality of mobile communication devices requires more processing resources. Therefore, new techniques are needed to reduce space requirements circuit components used in mobile communication devices.